Corn producers were the most affected by the lack of rain in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the new projection for summer crop production. Therefore, the data was released by the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development in conjunction with Emater.
Therefore, based on the survey, corn production fell by 1.2 tons compared to the August 2019 survey, a percentage of 21.1%.
The new estimates were presented on Tuesday morning (3) at the 21st Expodireto Cotrijal, in Não-Me-Toque, in the North of the state. Although the survey was carried out in the second half of February and rice, bean, corn, silage corn and soybean plantations were analyzed.
According to the Secretary of Agriculture of RS, Covatti Filho, it will be necessary to create new actions to overcome the drought in production.
“The state is experiencing a severe drought. The lack of rain in the coming days could make the situation even worse.”
The most affected production was corn silage, which is used for animal feed. According to the data, there was a drop of 20.7% in production.
“The South region concentrates most of the poultry and pork production. There is, in this and other regions, a warning regarding the possibility of a shortage of corn production or this product agricultural become very expensive.
Demand in 2019 was very high and most of the corn only enters the market in the second half of the year, with the second crop. Cereal prices are sustained and a lower supply should contribute to this scenario of high prices, especially until we have a more concrete idea of the results of the second crop”, he says.
Second corn crop
INTL FCStone also estimates a slight reduction in the production of second-crop corn, from 72.1 million tons, projected in December 2019, to 71.97 million tons. The decline was conditioned by the revision of the area in some states, which, despite being small, led the number for Brazil as a whole to be 13.14 million hectares, a level that still sets a record.
Soy
However, expectations for the soybean harvest have already risen from 121.6 million tons in December to 121.76 million tons. This new number was conditioned by the revision of the planted area in Mato Grosso, which increased the Brazilian area, reaching 36.62 million hectares.
Soybean plantations also felt the effects of the lack of rain. However, there was a reduction of 16% in expected productivity – the amount harvested per hectare – which fell from 3.3 kg/ha to 2.7 kg/ha. Consequently, the volume produced is expected to fall by 3.2 tons.
In short, bean and rice crops were the ones that suffered the least from the drought – 8.7% and 1.8%, respectively. “The drought will reduce the harvest a lot. Even more than expected”, adds the secretary.